Perfect weather - short sleeves all 5 days & 4 nights! - on grandchild's first backpack. Ross Lake (Dam & Resort) trailhead parking lot overflowing week before Labor Day (like many popular SR20 sites). Boated to Big Beaver and hiked to Pumpkin Mountain campsite. Lake water very comfortable. On Wednesday night thunder boomed and a few drops came down bringing temperatures down. Thursday hiked downlake to Green Point camp, one of three creeks along the way was dry. We were in the water a few times each day, snorkeling, fishing, exploring, swimming. Tentsites only partially filled leaving lots of privacy. Encountered 3 logs stepped over easily. No bears/scat evident, bugs? Virtually none. Friday morning hordes of folks coming down as we powered up Dam Trail to exit.

Upon our departure, discovered Wednesday's thunder was lightning uplake, igniting Perry Fire on Little Beaver and one on Big Beaver far upstream. We had not a wiff of smoke from these but there was mild haze all week.

Used Hastie Lake County Park to access the beach, heading 1.5 miles south before stopping for lunch and turning back (you could continue another easy mile to Libby Beach County Park and Fort Ebey State Park, see this trip report).

Road Conditions. Paved parking lot, no facilities.

Trail Conditions. Easy beach walk (the tide was below 1"), some sand, some pebbles.

Crowds. The parking lot had a couple cars and plenty of space at 11am, saw few people on the beach.

I started from the Chuckanut drive roadside parking. The first half of the  trail is actually part of the PNW trail system, mostly dry except a few muddy areas, many fallen leaves on trail though. But after passing the junction to samish bay trail, the trail became gradually muddy, and I have to use poles to carefully get through 3-4 big creek&waterfall crossings , it was doable but the water was really flowing very quickly. Waterproof hiking shoes will be good. I also noticed that the first viewpoint bench not far from the junction, was gone currently. not sure about the reason, it used to be a good rest stop. Hope WTA could set up a new one. I caught sunshine on my way to the summit , but after 1800ft the trail was shrouded in fog , so no view on the top. It was a bit cold on the summit, gloves and beanie are recommended . Totally I met 22 hikers. 

  A beautiful day here on Whidbey Island so I thought a hike along the beach would be nice. A large portion of the west side of Whidbey Island is the Pacific Northwest Trail. It runs about 14 miles from Fort Casey to Joseph Whidbey State Park. The hiking today was flat along the water in spots with sand but also areas full of large rocks which make the hiking difficult. Checkout the video of this hike by clicking on the link below or checkout my Vimeo Channel at https://vimeo.com/mikemorrison. 

As always get out and see this beautiful state and enjoy your hiking

Take Care,

Mike

From the parking lot at the end of the road at the northern end of Fort Ebey State Park, we followed the beach 1.5 miles north (past Libbey Beach, but not all the way to Hastie Lake County Park).

Road Conditions. Paved road and parking lot, restrooms.

Trail Conditions. The beach was easily walkable with the tide at 0-2 feet, some small rocks, but then mostly smooth on compact sand.

Highlights. Not much sea life in the tide pools, but plenty of birds.

Crowds. The parking lot was almost full at 1pm. Plenty of people on the beach between Point Partridge and Libbey Beach, but few people beyond that.